I’m in the same boat here, not regretting it at all that I moved on.

Ah double standards, farmers are apparently in their right to block a highway but god forbid you would block a highway for a climate protest.

I disagree, Germany does not require you to declare tips as income and we are very far away from a tipping culture or a system in wich tips are making up a substantial amount of the pay of a person.

Basically not really a thing, you get them here and there depending on the location and the kind of service. Most often ppl. Who pay with cash would round up to the next 5 or 10 or full euro depending on the relative size of the purchase. You would round up 49,41 € to 50 € and 9,48€ to 10 but 2,30€ probably to 2,50€ at most 3€.

I have rounded up like that at a hairstylist or at a restaurant. When paying in cash. When you round up like that I while paying with card the laws about the tips change. Then they no longer fall under §3 Nr. 51 EStG.

https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__3.html

You do not have to declare tips as income. They are by law not taxable (there are exceptions but I won’t go into too much German tax law details now), as long as the tip has been given to the employee by an customer in relation to a service they provided. Which is no longer the case when you pay by card, because then the tip has been given to the employer not employee and as such it no longer satisfies the paragraph. But there are more details to that.

https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__3.html there look for number 51.

Sorry about that, I made an edit.

We (Germany) don’t pay taxes on tips, they are the additional thing you get for doing a great job / when someone wants to show appreciation. They are not part of the salary and the employer can’t demand to collect cash tips for you. They are your own.